Movies like Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa (1985)
The best movies like Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa (1985) are The Mother (2003), Cesar and Rosalie (1972) and An Affair of Love (1999). If Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa hooked you with its romance and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHappiness (1998)7.4/10 from 1,000 votes
- NewestLove Me Love Me (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchCesar and Rosalie (1972)Also in French
The Mother (2003)
A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCesar and Rosalie (1972)
A young woman becomes entangled with a successful businessman, but her ex tries to win her back, provoking intense jealousy that leads her to reconsider her choice. Ultimately, one man's actions force a resolution to her dilemma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Affair of Love (1999)
A man and a woman meet to fulfill her sexual fantasy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World Unseen (2007)
A drama centered on two women who engage in a dangerous relationship during South Africa's apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChina Girl (1987)
Teenage lovers Tony and Tyan-Hwa tip the balance of power in New York's Little Italy and Chinatown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2019)
A destitute young man, raised by racist skinheads and notorious among white supremacists, turns his back on hatred and violence to transform his life, with the help of a black activist and the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinter Spring Summer or Fall (2024)
Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSylvie's Love (2020)
When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFire with Fire (1986)
A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days (1989)
Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nights.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Journal for Jordan (2021)
Based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, a soldier deployed to Iraq begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son. Back at home, senior New York Times editor Dana Canedy revisits the story of her unlikely, life-altering relationship with King and his enduring devotion to her and their child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntamed Heart (1993)
Caroline, a young waitress who seems to have bad taste in men, is on her way home one night when thugs attempt to rape her. Adam, the mysterious busboy who works at the same diner, helps fight off the assailants, and she begins a relationship with him -- but not all their fellow Minnesotans are happy for them. Meanwhile, the couple face their own difficulties when Caroline finds about Adam's past, including his unique health condition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nos Amours (1983)
Fifteen-year-old Suzanne seeks refuge from a disintegrating family in a series of impulsive, promiscuous affairs. Her fulsome sexuality further ratchets up the suppressed passions of her narcissistic brother, insecure mother and brooding, authoritarian father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young Lovers (2022)
Elegant, retired architect Shauna (70) crosses paths with Pierre, a happily married doctor in his 40s, who first made an impression on her in a brief meeting 15 years previously. Both are quite troubled to meet again and begin an affair. While Pierre’s family life is soon turned upside down, Shauna struggles with feelings she thought belonged to the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonlight Mile (2002)
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeights (2005)
Spanning twenty-four hours, HEIGHTS follows five New Yorkers challenged to choose their destiny before the sun comes up the next day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Me Love Me (2026)
After her brother's death, June moves to Milan for a fresh start, finding comfort in Will, the perfect honor student at her new international school. But when his troubled best friend James—hiding a dangerous life in clandestine MMA fights—sparks a rivalry that quickly turns into irresistible attraction, June must choose between safety and a love that upends everything she thought she wanted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind (2017)
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrazy/Beautiful (2001)
At Pacific Palisades High, a poor Latino falls hard for a troubled girl from the affluent neighborhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaura Gets a Cat (2018)
Laura, an unemployed writer in New York City, tries to juggle an unexciting boyfriend, an affair with a performance artist, and a vivid imaginary life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Hermitage (1968)
Hermitage, defined by Bene as "a rehearsal for lenses", beyond any literal rendition - its narrative trace comes from one of his anti-novels, Credito Italiano V.E.R.D.I - displays his immediate attitude to thinking a cinematic language completely based on actor's movements and actions, and more specifically, on his presence and his schemes. Camouflaged or naked, still or moving, his body seems to play and be played at the same time, shifted by objective and subjective tensions, both metaphorically and visually speaking.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Narrows (TBA)
NORTHERN ENGLAND, 1900. A young woman joins the crew of a narrow boat as they transport a dangerous and valuable cargo to the man responsible for her father's death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mortality (2021)
A Man runs away from a Shadowy Figure whilst coming to terms with what’s next…His Mortality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
George of the Jungle (1997)
Deep in the African jungle, a baby named George, the sole survivor of a plane crash, is raised by gorillas. George grows up to be a buff and lovable klutz who has a rainforest full of animal friends: Tookie, his big-beaked toucan messenger; Ape, a witty talking gorilla; and Shep, a peanut-loving pooch of an elephant. But when poachers mess with George's pals, the King of Swing swings into action.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisHappiness (1998)
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNoua (1972)
In Algeria in 1954, in a village in the Aurès region, poverty reigns over peasants enslaved by colonial administrators and Algerian landowners. Noua, in love with the son of a peasant dispossessed of his land, must be sold to a wealthy landowner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Incident Urbain (2014)
Two enigmatic figures with code names, Costello and the Colonel, bound seemingly by some mysterious revolutionary past, engage in an intense conversation concerning the architecture surrounding them, with possible catastrophic consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Thought of Ecstasy (2018)
August 2019. Frank recognizes his own story of twenty years ago in a recently published book. He remembers Marie, with whom he had a relationship before she moved to the United States and disappeared from his life. Frank sets out in search of her and finds himself in a USA petrified by a heat wave and lost in suspicion and political paranoia. He heads into the desert in pursuit of Marie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa?
The closest matches to Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa are The Mother (2003), Cesar and Rosalie (1972) and An Affair of Love (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa?
Start with The Mother (2003), the closest match to Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa.
What is the highest-rated movie like Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa?
Happiness (1998), rated 7.4/10 by 1,000 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa?
Love Me Love Me (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa?
Yes: Cesar and Rosalie (1972), An Affair of Love (1999) and My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days (1989).
How are movies similar to Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Empty Quarter: A Woman in Africa, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.